Stop Hunting – A Better Way to Fill Cancellations

When it comes to filling an opening – the whole team stops what they are doing and goes on a hunting expedition. They spend their time hunting for names instead of contacting patients. Did you know that if you are vigilant with the patient database – you can eliminate the hunt?! Listen closely and I will tell you how to build your list with every patient on the spot.

Eliminating the hunt

As a patient flows through hygiene decide – is this person a reliable appointment keeper? If yes – they deserve to have their next time slot held for them. Hold the slot, and ask them, “If I get any openings sooner would it be ok to give you a call?”

This allows you to mark this person as an A – they are reliable and will come ASAP if needed. Make this notation somewhere in your software so you can easily bring up their names.

The unreliable patients are handled differently. You know the ones – those notorious schedule wreckers. They have a history of repeat no shows and cancellations. They are likely the reason why you have an opening in the first place. These patients are marked with a B. You have a special arrangement for them and it’s does NOT involve prescheduling their hygiene appointment. Think about it – Does it make sense to assume they are magically going to become responsible? If they consistently cancel, change or no show, why would you reserve time on your schedule for them?

B stands for Booyah. The Booyah list is a very special list. This is what you offer to them – When they are available, they will call you and see if you have openings and, vice versa, when you have an opening you will call them.

Booyah!!

It’s so simple. They no longer wreck your schedule and you will have someone at your beckon call when you need to fill an opening. These are some of my favorite patients now. They get to save the day instead of wreck the schedule. Simply set up your software so you can assign an A or B rating. When you have an opening, you can now search your lists for your As and Bs and not have to spend all of your time hunting.